Trust Voters to Analyze Campaign Ads

Published: February 5, 1996

To the Editor:

I agree with Kathleen Hall Jamieson (Op-Ed, Jan. 27) that ad-watch journalism helps us sort through the sound-bite barrage of an election year. However, her worst-case scenario of citizens "left to navigate the charges and countercharges on their own" could help bring substance back into politics.

A new electorate, trained to critically analyze television commercials, is emerging. "Media literacy" projects are springing up around the country in high schools and universities. Courses teaching judgment skills are producing new voters who will demand informed choice and likely reject the finger-pointing genre of political campaigning.

Could we be headed toward the day when an incumbent candidate silently runs solely on his or her record?